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Consequences of Actions

The obese kid says "Stay away from sweets", muralled atop of our Soho design studio vending machine. (Given the high volume of decent food joints within a sharpies throw of the studio and the disproportionate number of colleagues cycling to work I can't see a huge amount of vending action happening).

"No Dumping - only water down the drain" in San Francisco, below.

For every (potentially harmful) action, the mechanism through which the consequences of actions occur. The ability to introduce more reflective moments into the design process. And the the future perfect of consequences.

Writing from Soho | April 30, 2008 | Permalink

Kstm Designer Laptop

This designer specifically. Yeah, his other one's a thin slice of fruit.

Writing from Soho | | Permalink

Sign of the Economy/Economy of the Sign

From the corridors of power.

Writing from Spitalfields | | Permalink

English Caff Condiment Norms

Today's office starts early ends late.

When we walk in at half five in the morning - the only other punters are a couple of road sweepers their hands wrapped around hot and heavily sugared tea. Our orders arrive - my Korean eating companion being introduced to the culinary tomfoolery of bubble and squeak, and we spend the next 90 minutes working through breakfast and a presentation that in an perfect parallel universe would have been finished days ago. A few hours from now we'll be standing and delivering to 6-score journalists from around the world, invited to a 'behind the scenes look at our new London design studio. No pressure then.

It occurs to me that time travel is made for moments like this to either rewind back a day or two and work on the presentation or fast forward to the muted post-delivery applause.

Bringing work conversations into this place of full-English worship is passable when most of the seats are empty, but grows increasingly unacceptable to this author as the tables fill. That's not strictly true - its not the conversation that's an issue as much as the presence of an opened laptop.

I'm reminded of an interview with a cafe manager in Brighton who talked about the different ways that laptop wielding customers would be 'encouraged' to leave - through repeated cleaning of the table around the customer, asking whether they wanted to order anything else, then under the customer's plate, then (jokingly) that he would clean the table with bleach. From tutting to bleaching. Part of the issue with laptops being perceived as anti-social is that it is a black box - you could be engaged in a task that takes 5 minutes or 5 hours, an uncertainty that creates tension. What is it that makes using a mobile phone or reading a newspaper acceptable, but using a laptop not?

Back out on the street we realise we have no idea where our new London design studio is. In the rain and in a hurry is not the time to piss around with a newly installed map application. The GPS equipped phone is parked in the back pocket and we ask a friendly cabbie for directions.

Some days are bigger than others, apparently.

Luckily we both pack a decent supply of adrenaline.

Writing from Soho | April 29, 2008 | Permalink

Stiffness in an Otherwise Flexible World

The length of time it takes for objects to mold and give to the contours of your body? In a world of smaller objects made from more flexible components - the motivations for keeping objects stiff to the point of being uncomfortable?

Why this photo? The newish biometric passports includes an RFID tag that stiffens the entire passport to the point that it can no-longer comfortably be carried in a trouser back pocket. Though given the rigours of the road I have my doubts how long the RFID tag will last anyway.

And the footwear? One week to wear in a new pair of crampon-stiff-soled boots - a snow covered Mt. Fuji beckons. So if you see me walking-like-a-dork around the mothership today, that'll be why.

Writing from Helsinki | April 28, 2008 | Permalink

A Better Thing

Fortunately during the upcoming week I'll be double-billing with colleague Younghee who co-incidentally starts the next leg of her truly nomadic existence with a move to London.

The photo of her reading the Assignments Aboard Times taken during last year's study in Mumbai. We're sitting in the lobby of our Dharavi hotel waiting for a breakfast of dhal and sweet lassi to arrive, watching the pedestrian traffic negotiate the monsoon weather through the doorway, and listening to religious intonations from a shrine along the corridor.

A wiser person than me accurately described our endless journeying as a holiday romance without the holiday, and without the romance - friendships and respect forged from working through blood, sweat and occasionally tears. In a world of change, our framing of history is the only constant.

Writing from Tokyo | April 27, 2008 | Permalink

A Good Thing

Once more into the breach - heading to Helsinki/London for the week, including a full day in the company of the fourth estate. A little fear is a good thing, right?

Writing from Japan | | Permalink

Info! Pick! Up!

QR bar codes positioned at the exit of Omotesando station - point your mobile phone camera at the code and be redirected to a mobile website listing the surrounding area. You'd probably think twice about calling a phone number placed in the same spot and advertising the same service - so ultimately how does the expectation of what happens next differ depending on the medium through which additional information is requested?

As to whether this is truly destined for mainstream adoption? Keep eyes peeled for street hacks.

Related: out of date annotation in Helsinki, the freshness of sex service advertising in London.

Writing from Mishuku | April 26, 2008 | Permalink

When Localisation Comes to This

Local Japanese colour variations of this recently launched feature rich product. Compare this to competing (with itself) on (pantone) colour.

Writing from Meguro | | Permalink

D [Arrow] A [Arrow] - Counter Wayfinding

Spend more than a few years in Japan, most likely you'll have enjoyed numerous visits to the immigration building - a short drab bus ride from Shinagawa Station. Monotonous but, from experience far more pleasant than its Berlin or London equivalents.

The [A] counter handles re-entry permits.

Writing from Shinagawa | | Permalink

Visual Flow

Writing from Harajuku | April 25, 2008 | Permalink

Oral. Ablutions

Restaurant bathroom includes a dental floss dispenser - from last year's study in Rio de Janeiro.

Writing from Mishuku | April 24, 2008 | Permalink

Dental Aspirations

Dental advertising from Hue (above) and Lhasa (below).

And the use of a dental brace vehicle for status in in Bangkok.

Writing from Higashi Yama | | Permalink

Cultural Stereotypes: Thief

Hospital poster warning against theft - uses an image of a stereotypical thief in Japan: male; chubby; bearded or with a few day's stubble; local i.e. Japanese; wearing plain clothes with a hood; swag carried in a sack made out of cloth with the corners tied and slung over one shoulder. If animated: walking quietly on tiptoe.

Given our increasing ability to digitally observe and retrospectively identify thieves - whether this stereotype will change? Given the awareness that more diligent members of this profession are likely to have for surveillance, whether awareness will lead to a generalisable (or stereotypeable) shift in appearance?

What does a stereotypical thief look like in your country? Answers in the comments below...

Writing from Ochanomizu | April 23, 2008 | Comments (11) | Permalink

Anticipatory Preparation

Writing from Ochanomizu | | Permalink

Pre-Paid TV

Evolving from coin to card to...

With more media being carried, and the occasional benefits of big-screen over small - business models that enable infrastructure roll-out and usage.

Writing from Ochanomizu | | Permalink

Monday Morning Commute

This morning's office is cramped to say the least - my nose is pressed up against the collar of a salariman whose fresh pomade and comb induced rice rows (the local unintentional equivalent of cornrows) I am now intimately familiar. Just to my right a lady is reluctantly pressing her petit, squishy breast against my rib cage propelled by an influx of yet more pushing bodies. To my left a row of four heads are dipped, dozing and by co-incidence the angle of each head perfectly reveals a bald spot in the rough of each of the four suited gents. In a future perfect world of augmented reality slot machines (motto - 'pattern match, win prizes') four-in-a-row is a definite winner. But right now, having staked a claim on some the few seats in this rush hour train the dozed are snoozing through their jackpot.

As it leaves the station, the mass of bodies start to settle and the muscular tension that was countering its acceleration starts to dissipate.

Every space has its own etiquette but few as fascinating, and as fascinatingly dense as the Tokyo subway during rush hour. For trains traveling in from the 'burbs every additional stop before a mainline destinations like Shibuya ratchets up the pressure - no-one leaves, a brave few take a breath and enter.

It's rare to have the opportunity to enjoy this Monday morning commute - cycling being my regular vehicle of choice and Tokyo being eminently cycleable, so subway journey's like today are a novel experience to be savoured. The Denentoshi becomes the Ginza becomes the Marunouchi in this cross-town safari to my ultimate destination - a hospital in Ochanomizu.

Let the week begin.

Writing from Tokyo | April 21, 2008 | Comments (0) | Permalink

Hospital Gift Norms

Writing from Ochanomizu | | Permalink

Elasticity of (Anti) Social Spaces

Mobile phones used in this Ochanomizu hospital, restricted to phone booths. In a world of smaller more discreet objects, how to know what activity a person is engaged in? The extent to which the anti-social aspects of that activity (externalities) are noticed by people in proximity? Or that these behaviours can be analysed retrospectively? The effect that knowing someone's historical behaviour will effect their current behaviour.

Related - a dedicated mobile phone booth in this lounge in Copenhagen airport, cutting down on the mobility of smokers in Tokyo.

Writing from Ochanomizu | April 20, 2008 | Permalink

Object Darwinism

Writing from Shibuya, back of | | Permalink

Jagarico no Barcode

Writing from Ochanomizu | | Permalink

Tech Dunes

It took three year's to fill 48 page passport, and three working days to apply for a replacement.

Despite the proximity of an automatic passport photo booth to the British embassy in Tokyo - applicants are directed to a human mediated studio with a "he knows how to take them just right". The rules for what make an acceptable photo have tightened up and what was once OK, no longer is. Thought for today: the extent that higher quality and more prevalent tools to re-produce stuff - from photo printers to 3D copiers, leads to changes in the rules for acceptable submissions - like sand dunes rolling in parallel across a desert.

Neighbourhood photos studios are window's to the community: from the photo booth without a camera in Brazil; photo enhancement services in Ho Chi Minh City; the aspirational nature of the backdrops in Lhasa and New Orleans night club.

And the gent in a wicker basket/helmet? Last year's motorbike driver taking me to his favoured photo studio in Fujian Province.

Service designer's out there might like the guidelines for submitting appropriate photos presumably based on tens of thousands of inappropriate submissions. Photos should be: not to close; too far; mustn't show another person; have a busy background - think flock wallpaper; be to blurry or too light; have shadows across the face; be looking away; portrait style - body at 45degrees, face looking at camera; mouth open; hair across eyes; frames covering eyes; dark tinted glasses; wearing a hat; face covered. Download the full guidelines for applicants and guidelines for photo studios.

Writing from Ginza, back of | April 19, 2008 | Permalink

Disembodied Voices II

Customers of this vending machines situated in Izu Koogen station are talked through the process of obtaining a new travel pass by a remotely located assistant - the machine includes a scanner, highlighted in the photo below, for passing on printed information. If you were to take the red-eye from Tokyo to Salt Lake City and pull your rental into the parking lot of this bagel bakery - standing at the check-out you might unsure whether the server is talking to you, or some remote other. In any given retail context to what extent do you want or expect a human server to be the interface between you and, speaking broadly here, that retail experience?

And in a world of manufactured retail experiences and advertising everywhere the ability and desire of consumers to engage and disengage on their own terms is helped by a deep arsenal of tools - from reading materials to sunglasses, to personal stereos and headphones, to (seemingly) talking on a mobile phone.

Sometimes the inquisitive researcher has to partake in a bit of anti-social behaviour to figure out the boundaries of things - Kate Fox gives an lovely example of deliberately queue jumping in an pub in her book Watching the English - the Hidden Rules of English Behaviour and if you're British your stomach's probably just knotted up thinking about her reaction to their reaction so ingrained are our behavioural norms . And so it was yesterday in the Shibuya Apple store going through an entire browsing and purchasing process - avoiding eye contact with the trained-to-acknowledge-your-presence-within-x-seconds greeters and keeping 'buds firmly in-ears to avoid any form of verbal interaction with the check-out staff. (Whilst raw this break down of an Apple store retail experience has a lot going for it). My own deliberately disengaged experience felt wrong, the body language of the servers and in particular the check-out staff indicated social discomfort, but as a consumer in a carefully crafted retail environment boy was it self-empowering.

(Yeah, I know, Apple, Competitor. But I could equally be talking about experiences closer to home. And no, this wasn't a formal experiment, I do occasionally need to shop y'know)

In our increasingly sensor rich world the arms race for your sensory attention is stepping up a gear. As a consumer sometimes the only way to step back is to kick back. New weapons for the disengaged consumer and the engaging retailer are just around the corner, more of which later.

Sort of related: advertising and the value of you is that you are here.

Writing from Mishuku | April 18, 2008 | Permalink

Newspaper Vending Norms

Business 24/7 vending machine includes a 45 degree angled slot for retrieving newspaper from Dubai above and a typical US style Wall Street Journal vending machine from Washington DC below.

Vending machines are not particularly common in the United Arab Emirates - but I’m guessing that ex-pat customers will be broadly familiar with the US style of buying vended newspapers - if not hands-on then from exposure to popular/unpopular culture. To what extent does transparency - both of what is inside the machine and how the machine works effect the purchasing experience? Standing in front of this machine - what goes through your mind?

Are any newspaper’s left? How sure am I that the paper on the inside is the same as the one on the outside? What is the perceived likelihood that the machine will simply swallow the coins and not deliver - due to some kind of mechanical or cosmic failure? What is the actual likelihood of failure? And how does this perception change through use or observing other people’s use? That little moment of panic when you’re down to your last Dirham or Euro or quarter. Does someone nearby offer a vending-free alternative way to purchase the same thing? And given all this what % of willing consumers standing in front the Business 24/7 vending machine end up walking away, coins still in pocket?

And in world that’s increasingly shifting to digital to what extent does any of this matter? Is the purpose of the machine to vend? Or to remind consumers that the content exists and to facilitate access to the that digital content?

Related: shortening the path through key-words and QR bar codes.

Writing from Tokyo | | Permalink

Squatting Evolved

During our Chongqing morning session we came across numerous folk hurrying along to somewhere carrying small stools. It turned out they were all heading to a seminar sponsored by a medical company (below) in a place where seating was not supplied.

Do you live in a culture where its normal to sit or squat? How does this impact the (seating) infrastructure you expect to find, and in which context? How does it impact what you are likely to carry? And (gosh) if you design things that people carry (how) does this affect their likely interaction preferences?

Writing from Tokyo | April 17, 2008 | Permalink

Packaging/Display Norms

Bean sprouts from a neighbourhood vegetable market, sprout-head facing outwards - rounding off today's Chongqing detour.

Writing from Tokyo | | Permalink

Table Annotation

The advantages and disadvantages of annotating the table itself (from street side cafe above) versus a fixed point of reference proximate to the table (below) - both photos from Chongqing.

The extent that an object is expected to move in relation to its surroundings? And how this, and our ability to track objects changes in our future perfect world where objects have a degree of autonomous mobility?

Writing from Tokyo | | Permalink

Motivations for Protecting

Chopsticks covered with a plastic sheet - in line with colleague Younghee's thread on freshness and protection (that's her in the baseball cap, below). Given that you might expect (rain) water to be associated with it's cleaning properties - to what extent are the chopsticks covered because a damp wooden chopstick behaves and tastes differently to a dry one? Or that it is locally assumed that the rain carries with it pollution? - whilst this pot of 'sticks was exposed to the rain, more sheltered pots were not similarly covered.

These photos are from Chongqing during a wake-up-with-the-city walk - one of the research methods we use to orientate ourselves with a new location. We awoke at some unreasonable hour it was raining hard, a due to distinct lack of umbrellas had to dance our way through the deluge to eventually grab breakfast of steaming congee, deep fried sugar-flour washed down by soy milk - morsels of choice for manual labourers, students and hungry researchers alike. Good times. A little more here.

Writing from Tokyo | | Permalink

Air Hacks: Tangible Reminders

Part of the protocol of coming into land is checking that bathrooms are clear and locking the door - by lifting the lavatory flap and locking from the outside. During a recent United flight the seen-everything attendants placed a small plastic cup just so on each of the doors. But why a cup and why in this location?

The cup happens to be the object to hand - the door includes a small water fountain and a stack of cups; its positioning acts as a sufficiently out of place visual and tangible reminder to unlock the lavatory; and by being wedged under a well sprung metal flap it reduces the likelihood of broken finger nails. Simple. Effective.

Writing from Japan | April 16, 2008 | Permalink

Moral Authorities/Services

Unclaimed (or spare) shoes outside this Bur Dubai mosque.

Looking at the infrastructure and objects around your neighbourhood - what is free to take, what can you use and in what contexts, and what is off-limits? To what extent does the moral authority of the mosque extend to these shoes? And as with the back-alley wall annotated with shrine symbols (photo from Sangenjaya, below) how can this authority be extended to other objects and services? What do you assume to upload to a Yahoo branded web-hosting service? What about a hosting service provided by this mosque? So yeah, at what point does the Vatican muscle into the web hosting business?

Now switch your assumptions about 'moral authority' from the perspective of a devout atheist.

Kind of related: the practice of leaving bags on the streets of Urumqi.

Writing from Mishuku | | Permalink

Design Elements that Say "Bicycle"

Writing from Harajuku, back of | | Permalink

When It's Acceptable to Overfill

The extent that overfilling is part of the experience and the infrastructure that is required to support this.

Photos show: sake from a Shimokitazawa izakaya; an Izu Koogen balcony bath wet rooms being the norm in Japan; and for this coffee-junkie at least, the ritualistic filling of a cafetière to the brim to ensure that grits make it into the cup.

Digital equivalents?

Writing from Tokyo | | Permalink

Tasks Supported

In JR Shibuya station booking office.

Writing from Shibuya | | Permalink

(Lack of ) Visual Authority

Why this stop sign has less authority then you should expect?

More on deferring authority, and how it plays out in our future perfect.

Writing from Tokyo | | Permalink

Tools for Mobile Activists

The presentation-lite slides from last week's Global Philanthropy Forum panel on Early Warning: Listening, Technology, Activism can be downloaded from here (PowerPoint, 2MB).

To recap the framing discussion: that for many the mobile phone is their primary video/photo/audio capturing and sharing device and as such their skills surpass what you might expect. The photo below from the streets of Cairo shows a screen shot from a mobile phone movie that re-created scenes from the Godfather shot and edited entirely on the mobile phone (the gent in the photo isn't an activist just someone whose mobile phone editing skills are highly evolved, and yeah the pixelation is just to maintain a degree privacy); that a person's understanding of what happens when they use mobile technology can be significantly out of sync with what actually happens - something that system designers sometimes refer to as the user's mental model. It doesn't necessarily matter that the mental model differs from how it actually works - but it can quickly become an issue if that person is trying to try out new features, recover from an error or say, wants to stay one step ahead of the authorities. Examples from both ends of the spectrum of understanding: Ken Banks talking about activists in Pakistan using Frontline SMS whilst riding around the city in a truck to reduce the risk of detection by base-station triangulation, to an interviewee in Tehran (but could equally be an example from my/your country) assuming that a voice mail message stored on the phone's memory was out of reach of prying government ears - never mind that the message originally passed over the network which may be monitored. The spread of tools that can capture experiences means that more people are in a position to document and publish (human rights) abuses - including many ad-hoc activists who wont be aware that of the relative ease of tracing communication - and this in a world before the widespread adoption of geo-tagged photos.

But why use a photo of a street signs in Tehran as an example of mental models? Explanation here.

The three things on the device that will impact the spread of activist material in emerging markets and beyond: lower device cost's are broadening the base of who can afford a feature rich mobile phone - putting more people in a position to capture and communicate what they see and hear; memory prices are rapidly dropping and sufficiently-large-for-storing-media memory capacity will filter down into the lowest cost handsets increasing the range of what is stored and the ability to communicate via the sneaker net - photos and video passed from hand to hand, rather than say sent over the network; and mobile phones equipped with TV Out e.g. N82 will leverage existing big-screen infrastructure and practices. I'm less sure of this last one - but included because most people aren't aware of the feature.

After the session Gigi Brisson asked a smart question about the likely strategies for staying one step ahead of whomever is trying to snoop - the simplest is single or limited use communication tools e.g. using one SIM/phone used for a single conversation before disposing of it. Whether this is affective assumes other factors such as buying from different sources, varying the location from which the communication is carried out, encrypting what is communicated and so on and on. Even though countries like Japan or India are supposed to register pre-paid SIM card consumers at point of purchase there are enough lost, stolen or hacked SIM cards/phones to create a steady supply. NGO's looking for a comprehensive solution should start with Benetech and in particular Martus - with thanks James Fruchterman for the pointer.

Back to the panel - ta to Mitul Shah for hosting, and Mark Smolinski, Erik Hersman and of course the attendees for making it the first panel I've actually enjoyed. Photos in the slides from Accra, Ayni, Cairo, Delhi, Seoul and Tehran.

Writing from Tokyo | April 15, 2008 | Comments (0) | Permalink

Form / Alignment

Related: the alignment of license plates in Chongqing, street annotation in Pasadena and curbs in Tokyo that reveal the geometry of the city.

Writing from Tokyo | | Permalink

Static, Then Evolution

The pieces of infrastructure that become fixed reference points - which then evolve over time. From my local 'hood, Sangenjaya.

Writing from Sangenjaya, back of | | Permalink

Advertising Norms

Street accommodation advertising from Bur Dubai includes: “for South Indian”; “Keralite preferred”; “for Muslim bachelor” and “decent executive Muslim bachelors”.

For service designers: whether to explicitly support categorisation based on race, religion, geography? In a world with more personal data floating around whether we're likely to see this extended to: social network; sexual history; STD status; credit rating?

Update: reader Alexander Baxevanis points out that stating a discriminatory preference of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, handicap or disability is illegal in the US - for example articulated for Craigslist users here.

Writing from Mishuku | April 14, 2008 | Permalink

Shall We Overcome?

Want to know to what extent your multi-cultural colleagues really get on with one another? Consider for a moment whom they hang out with over lunch - whilst behavioural norms are reasonably well defined for how to behave in the workplace - people tend to 'switch off' on their lunch hour - hanging out with people with the same cultural, food and language preferences. It takes effort do otherwise, something that in part implies a degree of respect.

That's not to say that this kind of voluntary segregation is negative - it probably contributes to the 'recharging' process - particularly for people who spend most of their time speaking [English] as a second language.

Photo: the highly ritualistic tea making process from the streets of Xiamen. And yeah, back home in Tokyo enjoying a 3am permalag induced start to the working week.

Writing from Mishuku | | Permalink

NYT, Links

Reader's arriving from the New York Times might appreciate the following links: a short essay on the speed at which mobile phones are making their way around the planet here; a list of research and downloads here; and if for some reason you're seduced by the idea of life on the road, re-align your thinking with the thread titled today's office.

The main study mentioned in the article focussed on communities in Mumbai (photos above, below), Accra, Rio de Janerio and Chongqing.

It's common for the media to tell a story through an individual - the simple fact is that a lot of people's hard work goes into making these studies happen - and not everyone has the opportunity (or ego) to put out there. Thanks to the NYT and the article's ever-so-patient author, Sara Corbett for giving us the opportunity to share with a wider audience.

If you want to keep in touch with where all this research is heading send an email to subscribe @ janchipchase.com.

Writing from Tokyo | April 13, 2008 | Permalink

New Perspectives Changing Value

In a world of ubiquitous aerial, street level or [insert new way of seeing] imagery the extent that new views enhance or depreciate the the financial value of what is seen?

One aspect of living in a cul-de-sac's is the assumption of a greater degree of privacy than say, a through road. Whether contempory tools tools should build this assumption into the granularity/detail of what is shown on aerial maps? And for whom? And given this sadistic brave new world how increased discoverability plays out in sales for new property developments such as the cul-de-sacs of the Palms islands in Dubai (pictured).

Related: threads on privacy and wayfinding.

Writing from Mishuku | | Permalink

The Streetz R Mine (For a Little While)

One more night before shipping back to Tokyo. By co-incidence my first proper field study started less than a block away from tonight's hotel, here in downtown San Francisco. Looking back, 2002 was the year of the big break - another corporate re-organisation created a business unit with a brief to broaden the accessory offering and someone with a budget decided to invest in a bit of in-house qualitative field research: carry out a multi-cultural study to explore what people carry and why and use the results to inform and inspire the design process. Easy. And easily enough rope to hang ourselves.

The plan was to meet my then Swedish co-conspirator Per in San Francisco - before embarking on 10 days of interviews, home visits, shadowing and observations. We both had a loose background in user centered design but neither of us were 'qualified' in the academic sense of the word, so we planned the study to death, figures out a spread of data gathering techniques to collect what we wanted to know, did what we felt was right and got on with the job. Some things worked, some didn't, no-one died. The data and our figure-it-out-as-we-go-along way of working triggered a wave of new ideas - which in turn fed into the design process.

After assessing the findings from San Francisco we headed to Milan, Berlin and eventually Shanghai - our understanding deepening to the point where patterns were starting to emerge - similarities and differences across cultures, gender, age. It was the playground of choice for the inquisitive mind: shadowing an architect in a Berlin winter; putting up Christmas decorations at 5am with the employees of a Shanghai bar/brothel whilst listening to tales of business on the streets; unsuccessfully trying to track down graffiti artists in Milan; buying bicycles in Shanghai to negotiate the city. And figuring out that if, on our departure donated the project bikes it brought a hidden intent of our research full circle.

A few steps on a long and continuing journey.

Called to gate and after two weeks on the road looking forward to a place called home.

Writing from San Francisco | | Permalink

Nomads Digitised, Abuses Communicated

The Economist published a special report on digital nomads that includes contributions from colleagues and peers. The future perfectesque addition comes the form of a phone-in diary of life on the road (hosted on the economist site here) that spanned a week in Tokyo and Seattle.

In situations where we need to collect data, where it's inappropriate to be present in person we sometimes ask people to self-document their lives in the form of audio-visual diaries. From experience the results of self documentation can be a bit hit or miss, with participants often deciding to re-interpret the boundaries of the study on the fly, but when it works the results can be powerful. Whilst I prefer to be on the other side of the microphone/lens the use of Dropio to record voice mail messages was pretty painless and hei, its not as if I had to be asked to take photos. Is self-documentation appropriate for your study? Judge for yourself:

Abuses archived? Putting self documentation in the context this week's Global Philanthropy Forum take a look at Witness / The Hub - a participatory media site for bringing human rights abuses to a worldwide audience. And if there's any of our Ovi guys reading this ...

Writing from San Francisco | April 12, 2008 | Comments (4) | Permalink

Passion Play

Struggling to ad-hoc recruit someone for a field study? Those little things that make it possible to identify members of the community you are after...

Related: personalisation from Japan, China and beyond.

Writing from San Francisco | | Permalink

Libre

Writing from San Francisco | | Permalink

Conversion Tools

How do you keep electronic objects charged with limited access to mains electricity?

In countries like Uganda we’ve seen solutions ranging from car batteries to street charging services and a relatively small amount of solar. One potential solution is the pull-cord charger - demonstrated by the Potenco team shortly after the Street Hacks talk - billed as generating enough power for 20 minutes of talk time from one minute of pulling. The design is still evolving - based on feedback from the field. In retrospect given the mechanical nature of the solution and the likely geography of its deployment perhaps it should have been part of the talk?

Writing from San Francisco | | Permalink

Street Hacks, Hacked

The slides from tonights Street Hacks presentation with Duncan Burns are now available - download from here (PowerPoint, 7MB).

It's essentially an update to this essay including some slides relating to fakes, dual SIM card use and Remade - the phone concept literally made form nothing new. Related research lives here and sign up to receive notification of future research by sending an email to: subscribe @ janchipchase.com.

A fuller list of research contributers appears on the second slide. Thanks to Peter Merholz for hosting and for attendees for getting into the spirit of the discussion. It's a good sign when the 'presenters' leave knowing more than when we arrived. And on a personal note I don't think we've ever stood between a room full of people and boxes of fresh pizza and lived to tell the tale.

Slides from top to bottom: the prevelance of software and content on demand from the streets of Delhi to the local corner store in Cairo - but could equally be Shanghai or Tehran or ...; issues related to fake phones - in this case a 'Nokia' from the streets of Accra supporting dual SIM card slots - the phone shows two send and end keys; a digital repair manual hack showing how to switch frequency bands; and soliciting the opinions of market ladies on the streets of the Nima neighbourhood in Accra in new design concepts - a small part of the participatory design work that we've been doing.